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Remarks by Secretary Tim Geithner before the Friends of the Syrian People, International Working Group on Sanctions

6/6/2012

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As
prepared for delivery

WASHINGTON
– Thank you and welcome.

Thank you to our co-chairs, the
Government of Qatar and the Government of Turkey – both leaders in the
international community’s response to the crisis in Syria.

This is the second meeting of the
Friends of the Syrian People International Working Group on sanctions.

More than 55 nations are
represented here today – united in our condemnation of the Assad regime’s
brutality.

United in our support for the
aspirations of the Syrian people.

Together we seek to hasten a
political change that puts an end to 15 months of violence.

We gather in the shadow of a
massacre.

Nothing we say can adequately
respond to such an event.

Nor can sanctions alone bring about
the change we seek.

But sanctions can play an important
role.

Strong sanctions, effectively
implemented, aggressively enforced, can help deprive the Syrian regime of the
resources it needs to sustain itself and to continue its repression of the
Syrian people.

Strong sanctions make clear to the
Syrian business community and other supporters of the regime that their future
is bleak so long as the Assad regime remains in power.

And strong sanctions can help
hasten the day the Assad regime relinquishes power.

So we commend the actions of the
Arab League to adopt, for the first time in its history, a strong set of
economic sanctions.

We commend the actions of Turkey,
whose sanctions are of critical importance, given its position as an immediate
neighbor.

We are pleased that the Government
of Qatar also took action against Syria International Islamic Bank last week.

And we welcome the expansive
sanctions adopted by the European Union and by so many other partners.

Now, to those nations that have not
yet adopted formal sanctions against the Syrian regime and its supporters, we
urge you to move quickly to do so.

We see no justification for
allowing senior members of the Assad regime to have the benefit of accessing
the global financial system.

We see no justification for
allowing unauthorized funds to flow to the Central Bank of Syria, the
Commercial Bank of Syria, or any other financial institution that acts on
behalf of this regime.

We see no justification for
allowing individuals who provide financial support to the regime to be allowed
to use foreign banks.

We see no justification for
purchasing Syrian oil. Or for allowing financial institutions in any
jurisdiction, or ships flagged in any nation, to facilitate the sale, the
insurance, or the transport of Syrian oil.

And there can, of course, be no
justification for facilitating the sale of arms to the Assad regime.

Our collective financial sanctions
are not intended to target the people of Syria.

The greatest threat to the
well-being of the Syrian people is the regime in power there today.

And the longer this regime remains
in power, the more the Syrian people will suffer.

The longer Assad’s brutality
persists, the greater the likelihood of further bloodshed and the greater the
risk to a fragile region that is important to the world.

We, the United States, hope that
all responsible countries will soon join in taking
appropriate economic actions against the Syrian regime, including, if
necessary, Chapter 7 action in the UN Security Council, as called for by the
Arab League last weekend.

Absent meaningful compliance by the
regime with the Annan plan, that is the direction in which we are soon headed.

But in the meantime, we gather here
as Friends of the Syrian People.

And as Friends of the Syrian
People, our task is to impose maximum financial pressure on the Assad regime
and its supporters, as quickly as we can and as effectively as we can, to stop
their violence and to yield to conscience and to peaceful political change.

Thank you.

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